What the visual system can learn from the non-dominant hand: The effect of graphomotor engagement on visual discrimination.

Previous studies have demonstrated that engaging in graphomotor activity for creating graphemes can enhance their subsequent visual discrimination. This suggests a positive influence of the motor system on visual learning. However, existing studies have emphasized the dominant hand, which is superiorly dexterous in fine-motor movements.

Climate change and its impact on health: a global collaborative learning model.

To address the health effects of climate change, leaders in healthcare have called for action to integrate climate adaptation and mitigation into training programs for health professionals. However, current educators may not possess sufficient climate literacy and the expertise to effectively include such content in their respective healthcare curricula. We, an international and interprofessional partnership, collaborated with experts to develop and deploy curriculum to increase health educators' and graduate health profession students' knowledge and competencies on climate change.

Quantifying Changes in Dexterity as a Result of Piano Training in People with Parkinson's Disease.

People with Parkinson's disease often show deficits in dexterity, which, in turn, can lead to limitations in performing activities of daily life. Previous studies have suggested that training in playing the piano may improve or prevent a decline in dexterity in this population. In this pilot study, we tested three participants on a six-week, custom, piano-based training protocol, and quantified dexterity before and after the intervention using a sensor-enabled version of the nine-hole peg test, the box and block test, a test of finger synergies using unidimensional force sensors, and the Quantitative Digitography test using a digital piano, as well as selected relevant items from the motor parts of the MDS-Unified Parkinson's Disease Rating Scale (MDS-UPDRS) and the Parkinson's Disease Questionnaire (PDQ-39) quality of life questionnaire.

Kinematic descriptors of arm reaching movement are sensitive to hemisphere-specific immediate neuromodulatory effects of transcranial direct current stimulation post stroke.

Transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) exerts beneficial effects on motor recovery after stroke, presumably by enhancement of adaptive neural plasticity. However, patients with extensive damage may experience null or deleterious effects with the predominant application mode of anodal (excitatory) stimulation of the damaged hemisphere. In such cases, excitatory stimulation of the non-damaged hemisphere might be considered.

Using virtual reality-based neurocognitive testing and eye tracking to study naturalistic cognitive-motor performance.

Natural human behavior arises from continuous interactions between the cognitive and motor domains. However, assessments of cognitive abilities are typically conducted using pen and paper tests, i.e.

Learning juggling by gradually increasing difficulty vs. learning the complete skill results in different learning patterns.

Motor learning is central to sports, medicine, and other health professions as it entails learning through practice. To achieve proficiency in a complex motor task, many hours of practice are required. Therefore, finding ways to speed up the learning process is important.

A Pilot of Digital Whiteboards for Improving Patient Satisfaction in the Emergency Department: Nonrandomized Controlled Trial.

Background: Electronic paper (E-paper) screens use electrophoretic ink to provide paper-like low-power displays with advanced networking capabilities that may potentially serve as an alternative to traditional whiteboards and television display screens in hospital settings. E-paper may be leveraged in the emergency department (ED) to facilitate communication. Providing ED patient status updates on E-paper screens could improve patient satisfaction and overall experience and provide more equitable access to their health information.

Developmental and acquired brain injury have opposite effects on finger coordination in children.

The ability to coordinate finger forces to dexterously perform tasks develops in children as they grow older. Following brain injury, either developmental (as in cerebral palsy-CP) or acquired (as in traumatic brain injury-TBI), this developmental trajectory will likely be impaired. In this study, we compared finger coordination in a group of children aged 4-12 with CP and TBI to a group of typically developing children using an isometric pressing task.

The online and offline effects of changing movement timing variability during training on a finger-opposition task.

In motor learning tasks, there is mixed evidence for whether increased task-relevant variability in early learning stages leads to improved outcomes. One problem is that there may be a connection between skill level and motor variability, such that participants who initially have more variability may also perform worse on the task, so will have more room to improve. To avoid this confound, we experimentally manipulated the amount of movement timing variability (MTV) during training to test whether it improves performance.

Sensorimotor performance after high-definition transcranial direct current stimulation over the primary somatosensory or motor cortices in men versus women.

The primary somatosensory (S1) cortex is a central structure in motor performance. However, transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) research aimed at improving motor performance usually targets the primary motor cortex (M1). Recently, sex was found to mediate tDCS response.

The relationship between thoracic posture and ultrasound echo intensity of muscles spanning this region in healthy men and women.

Purpose: Skeletal muscle echogenicity intensity (EI) is considered a measure of muscle quality, being associated with old age and pathologies. Whether EI variations can be identified in healthy adults, due to habitual shortened or elongated muscle position is unknown. Thus, this study aimed to assess the relationship between thoracic kyphosis angulation and EI scores of muscles spanning this region ((Lower Trapezius (LT), Rhomboid Major (RM), Erector Spine (ES)) in healthy young people and in addition to examine the relationship between the change in thoracic kyphosis angle from relaxed to upright position (∆°) and the EI of these muscles.

Proximal and distal movement patterns during a graphomotor task in typically developing children and children with handwriting problems.

Background: Therapists specializing in handwriting difficulties in children often address motor problems including both proximal and distal movements in the upper extremity. Kinematic measures can be used to investigate various aspects of handwriting. This study examined differences in movement patterns in proximal and distal joints of the upper extremity during graphomotor tasks between typically developing children with and without handwriting problems.

Moving objects by imagination? Amount of finger movement and pendulum length determine success in the Chevreul pendulum illusion.

Hand-held pendulums can seemingly oscillate on their own, without perceived conscious control. This illusion, named after Chevreul, is likely a result of ideomotor movements. While this phenomenon was originally assumed to have a supernatural basis, it has been accepted for over 150 years that the movements are self-generated.

Self-Feeding Kinematics in an Ecological Setting: Typically Developing Children and Children With Cerebral Palsy.

Unlabelled: Assessment of self-feeding kinematics is seldom performed in an ecological setting. In preparation for development of an instrumented spoon for measurement of self-feeding in children with cerebral palsy (CP), the current work aimed to evaluate upper extremity kinematics of self-feeding in young children with typical development (TD) and a small, age-matched group of children with CP in a familiar setting, while eating with a spoon.

Methods: Sixty-five TD participants and six children diagnosed with spastic CP, aged 3-9 years, fed themselves while feeding was measured using miniature three-dimensional motion capture sensors (trakStar).

The effect of high-definition transcranial direct current stimulation intensity on motor performance in healthy adults: a randomized controlled trial.

Background: The results of transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) studies that seek to improve motor performance for people with neurological disorders, by targeting the primary motor cortex, have been inconsistent. One possible reason, among others, for this inconsistency, is that very little is known about the optimal protocols for enhancing motor performance in healthy individuals. The best way to optimize stimulation protocols for enhancing tDCS effects on motor performance by means of current intensity modulation has not yet been determined.

Voluntary step execution in patients with knee osteoarthritis: Symptomatic vs. non-symptomatic legs.

Background: Individuals with osteoarthritis fall at a greater rate than the general population, likely as a result of weakness, pain, movement limitations, and a decline in balance. Due to the high prevalence of osteoarthritis in the population, understanding the mechanisms leading to greater fall risk is an important issue to better understand.

Research Question: What is the influence of unilateral knee osteoarthritis on the characteristics of performing a voluntary step (i.

Home exercise in the dart-throwing motion plane after distal radius fractures: A pilot randomized controlled trial.

Introduction: During daily functions, our wrist moves through an oblique plane, named the dart-throwing motion (DTM) plane. This plane is considered a more stable plane because the proximal carpal row remains relatively immobile. However, rehabilitation programs that incorporate exercising in the DTM plane have yet to be explored.

Analogies can speed up the motor learning process.

Analogies have been shown to improve motor learning in various tasks and settings. In this study we tested whether applying analogies can shorten the motor learning process and induce insight and skill improvement in tasks that usually demand many hours of practice. Kinematic measures were used to quantify participant's skill and learning dynamics.

DataSpoon: Validation of an Instrumented Spoon for Assessment of Self-Feeding.

Clinically feasible assessment of self-feeding is important for adults and children with motor impairments such as stroke or cerebral palsy. However, no validated assessment tool for self-feeding kinematics exists. This work presents an initial validation of an instrumented spoon (DataSpoon) developed as an evaluation tool for self-feeding kinematics.

Organized Toe Maps in Extreme Foot Users.

Although the fine-grained features of topographic maps in the somatosensory cortex can be shaped by everyday experience, it is unknown whether behavior can support the expression of somatotopic maps where they do not typically occur. Unlike the fingers, represented in all primates, individuated toe maps have only been found in non-human primates. Using 1-mm resolution fMRI, we identify organized toe maps in two individuals born without either upper limb who use their feet to substitute missing hand function and even support their profession as foot artists.

Does Object Height Affect the Dart Throwing Motion Angle during Seated Activities of Daily Living?

Complex wrist motions are needed to complete various daily activities. Analyzing the multidimensional motion of the wrist is crucial for understanding our functional movement. Several studies have shown that numerous activities of daily livings (ADLs) are performed using an oblique plane of wrist motion from radial-extension to ulnar-flexion, named the Dart Throwing Motion (DTM) plane.